Well, the four other members of the jury and I debated over the eight short films in the ten categories as described in the prior post – and here are the announcements. The two big winners were Anna Kerrigan, who wrote and directed Hot Seat, and Minhal Baig, writer- director of Hala (Baig also had After Sophie in the official selection). “Hala is incredibly sensual and intimate.” one jury member praised. And another chipped in with “Hot Seat is all about flicking to the reactions at bang on the right moment.”. A special thanks to Justine, Hayley, Bailey, and Bee, who reveled in the choices rather than agonized. Here are the winners in full:

The Maya Deren Innovation For Short Films PrizeMinhal Baig – for writing and directing two outstanding short films, Hala and After Sophie, with Pretext coming next. Baig also had a feature film, One Night, released in the last year. An extremely talented filmmaker on this evidence, we look forward to more.